Étienne Clavière

Clavière, Étienne (ātyĕnˈ klävyĕrˈ) [key], 1735–93, French financier. A merchant and banker of Geneva, he participated (1782) in the popular revolution at Geneva and was forced to leave when the aristocrats returned to power in the same year. He settled in Paris. During the French Revolution Clavière was an adviser to the comte de Mirabeau on financial policy and had a part in the issuing of assignats. He was finance minister in the king's Girondist cabinet of Mar.–June, 1792. Clavière fell with the Girondists and committed suicide rather than face the Revolutionary Tribunal.